Question

leah is 6 years older than sue john is 5 years older than leah their totals = 41 how old is sue

Answer 1

ok. So let's say that leah's age is the variable x.
then john must be x + 5 right? since john is 5 years old then leah.

and you are given the total sum of theirages which is 41.
so you can rwite john + leah = 41
which is equivalent to

x+5 + x = 41 ...
2x + 5 = 41

and this equation can be solved now.

So 2x = 41 -5 = 36
therefore x = 18
so leah's age is 18.
hence john's age is 18 + 5 = 23.

and if you double check 23 + 18 it adds upto 41! :)

Answer 2

ok one moment i am going in the military so all this work has to be done without a calculator and me and math do not mix well

Answer 3

how did you get 2x

Answer 4

ok no problem. think about problems similar to these in this manner:

you don't know the age of leah or john right? HOWEVER, we are given the relation between the two. and that relation is that john is 5 years older.

so now you can say since we dont know the age of leah, let's just say its some random number - so we say let it be equal to X. since we dont know what X is. then we say ok so we know age of leah is X. therefore using the rlation of john, john's age must be x +5 right? since he's 5 years older.

now you are given the sum of their ages. so the age of leah + age of john must be 41.

so we can say that x (leahs age) + 5+x (johns age) = 41.

so x + x + 5 = 41.

Now whenever you add variables, we just sum them up.

so say if we knew that x = 2.

then 2 + 2 = 4 right?
similarly 2*2 is also 4 right?
so we can ssay using the same logic that since we have
x + x = some number
then x + x = 2 * x. makes sense?

and then you can solve the equation 2x + 5 = 41 like i did before.

Answer 5

hang on one min, is sue, john and leahs ages all equal 41?

Answer 6

yes

Answer 7

uthere

Answer 8

hello

Answer 9

ok so if sue's age is x, then leah's age must be x+6 since she is 6 years older .
then it says john is 5 years older than leah. so compared to leah whos 6 years older then sue, then john must be 11 years older than sue.
so john is x+11.

so from here we know that their total sum is 41. so we can say that:

x + (x+6) + (x+11) = 41. soo

x+ x+ x+ 17 = 41
Hence 3x = 24.
and x = 8. Therefore sue's age must be 8.
then leah's age is 8+6 = 14.
and john is 8+11 = 19.